17th August 2003

Zero option and operational quarries should be seriously considered in TOR

The terms of reference for the EIA for the interim waste landfills should seriously consider the zero option, Friends of the Earth (Malta) said today.
Any study on the desirability of interim landfills should weigh up the pros and cons of avoiding that option altogether, keeping Maghtab open until a new engineered landfill is ready to accept separated waste.

Interim landfills, wherever they are sited, will be very expensive and will push Malta's waste management bill skywards, besides creating more landfill sites than we require.

If it is found that Malta cannot do without interim landfills - a suggestion that FoE strongly contests - then all possible alternative sites should be considered and weighed up against the preferred sites.

Used quarries in particular should be studied as well as other possible sites including those that have been considered for Malta's more permanent landfill site, and others so far not studied.

When the sites and options are considered, experts in tourism and heritage as well as in all the other areas related to the issues of waste, air, land, water, transport, etc must be consulted and their submissions seriously weighed into the equation.

The possibility of speeding up waste separation at source plans so that the chosen landfill site, permanent or not, will be able to receive waste separated at source, should also be seriously considered.

Prima facie, it is the opinion of FoE Malta that the quarries close to the Mnajdra and Hagar Qim temples should be rehabilitated with construction and demolition waste and never with mixed household and industrial waste.